Spoon Carving...

It is an exciting time for me at the moment.

I am presently working with Christopher Grant on a design for a very usable and quick carving knife. He is a very well known Bladesmith who lives in a beautiful part of  West Scotland. He will have a prototype made up shortly and as soon as I can I will post some photographs. In the mean time it occurred to me that I haven't written about how to make a simple spoon...

The weather here has been wonderful these last few weeks and I have spent lots of time under the Golden Ash carving out some spoons for our next show.

I also thought it was high time I made a spoon for Sarah.

She sees so many spoons leaving for other homes that sometimes she fells a little left out...

Start off  by finding yourself a piece of green wood wide enough, plus a bit, that will accommodate the size of spoon you have in mind. Try and find a piece of Birch or Sycamore to start with as these woods lend themselves to spoon carving.

I salvaged a piece of Birch I had forgotten about in the garage and split a good sized billet from it, making sure before I began that the wood was sound, without any signs of splitting....

The first thing to do is remove the bark, then roughly shape out the top face of the spoon with your sharp Axe...

Make it straight it you wish or make it s little more feminine with a nice sweep...

Chop in the shoulders of the bowl. These cuts will also act as stop cuts when you start to reveal the handle sides...

Once you have the shoulders cut in, remove the waste wood along the handle with either feather cuts or simply split the wood away...

Here's what should be left...

The next thing to do is carefully cut in a tilt to the bowl...

And you will produce something  like this...

Chop out the underside of the handle, keeping a nice sweep...

And finally chop out the underside of the bowl...

From this blank you can start with your carving knife. Carefully removing all that isn't needed.

Probably time for a coffee at this stage...

I like to make my spoons as flowing as possible. Although this is harder and takes longer to achieve, I find the end result very pleasing...

The final shape is beginning to appear...

You will now have to pay some attention to cutting out the bowl using your spoon knife...

Cutting across the grain...

Now is the time to make another pot of coffee and start some old fashioned scraping until the spoon is smoother, ready for a little glass paper...

Scrape, drink and eat...

Until...

Henny Penny, the wonderchicken says your work is done...

Oh and not forgetting Floppity Flo...

I am sure Sarah will love her new spoon.

I am taking details for courses over the summer for small groups, drop me a line at...

firststeps@thewood.eclipse.co.uk

Any questions then feel free to post a comment or even E mail me...

Enjoy...

Re helve/Re handle an axe.

Some time ago my friend Gerald bought round some Ash for me to use to re-handle some of my tools. I split it up and left it in the Apple Room to dry out...

One of the tools that has been languishing in a draw is a rather fine Japanese laminated Axe head. So this weekend I decided that the Ash was seasoned enough for me to set about the job of making a new helve for it. The first thing to do was select a nice piece for the job. One of the billets had a knot about a third of the way up, so I decided to use this piece as I didn't need a full length and I could cut out the knotty piece...

As with all this work it is best not to rush anything. Have a picture in your mind of the finished job...

With my Axe I gently start removing the waste wood. I am looking for an elliptical shape down the length of the billet...

Of course the chickeny helpers are always near...

Because of the unusual set of this particular head I make the helve into an "S" shape so I can fit my hand tight up and under the beard of the Axe...

When I am close to the desired shape, I start to use my carving knife to get things flowing...

I carefully shape the part that will slip through the Eye of the Axe. This needs to be an interference fit. I will tap the head on as far as it will go, and then remove it again. As you can see, this leaves a mark on the wood that I can use as a template. I will keep doing this until I have enough wood through the Eye....

Knock the head on...

And take it off again...

As you do this you will get a feel for the helve as you handle it more. With the knife remove more waste and add shape...

When the head fits the helve, I will add the final carving touches and then scrape down the helve with a small knife blade. I usually use a little Opinel, which I sharpen up on a medium diamond stone. A friend bought a set for me from a local builders merchant, very cheep, very useful...

With this technique I can get a very good finish that will need minimal sanding...

The next thing to do is cut in a slot for the wedge that will affix the helve to the head...

Cut down until the slot nearly reaches the bottom of the depth of the Eye...

Next I will fashion a wedge making sure to mark the depth to which the wedge will fit into the slot. This will help me to know when I have reached the fullest depth as I am pressing the wedge home...

First I split a small billet down to size, then fashion the wedge shape...

And mark up...

I will present the wedge to the slot one final time just to make sure all will fit nicely together...

Next step is to gently press the head onto the helve. This time it will be easier because of the recently cut slot...

I will place the wedge into the slot and you can either employ a lump hammer, carefully tapping the wedge in, or in my case I employed a sash clamp and carefully pressed the whole assembly home...

When the wedge is at its maximum depth I remove the excess with a saw and tidy up with a knife...

All nicely done...

A bit of a sharpen and away we go with some more spoons...
With Dolly the chickens help, I couldn't go wrong...

ENJOY...



See what else we get up to at... http://hennockhouse.blogspot.com/

Sally's New Spoon...

I have just spent a little time making a serving spoon for my friend Sally....

I hope she likes it...

The other spoons in the basket are recent work and have not found homes yet...

I am sure it wont take long...

Over the weekend I will ask Sarah to help with some photography...I would like to show some of the carving techniques I employ...

Enjoy...J

The Topshan Art Show....

The Ideford Art Group has just completed a splendid weekend show at Topsham...

We were supported by many visitors who all showed a great interest in our work, and this has encouraged us to continue with our idea of showing our Art in as many easily accessible places as possible in the South West of England...
Here we have just finished setting up on the Friday night...

Here Jan Lunn explains some of her techniques to one of our guests...

Jan Lunn

And some great work by Oliver Lucas

Oliver Lucas

I spent a few days making some rustic spoons and whistles to add to my display...

I must admit I gave away most of the whistles to passing children...And a couple of adults...lol

Paul and Olly discussing the best way of enticing the passing potential viewers...

And some super glass work by

kate Packham

All in all we had a great time and we were greatly encouraged by the wonderful people who came to visit...

Thank you Topsham...

An article by First Steps...

ENJOY...